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Affective Economics
ADVERTISING IN CONVERGENCE CULTURE *Discuss Affective economics *What is it? *Why did it emerge? To meet what significant changes affecting TV? *Where are viewers? *Describe the goals of new advertising strategies? What kinds of new strategies are evolving? *Whose needs do these new forms of advertisitng serve? *What are Zappers, casuals, loyals & why do advertisers care about them? *What are lovemarks? *Use American Idol, The Apprentice, and other shows to describe specific examples of new advertising strategies emerging in the age of convergence. BE SURE TO BASE YOUR ANSWERS ON JENKINS' ANALYSIS in CHAPTER 2 "Buying Into American Idol." You can cite examples from your own interactions with TV & advertising, but make sure you present these examples through the concepts explained by Jenkins. ---- Begin your answer below this line. Do not delete the question above-------------- Psst --- last minute hint --- does this fit ---? http://vpaconvergence.blogspot.com/2007/12/reeboks-new-branding-campaign.html What is it? According to Henry Jenkins (p 61), affective economics describes the new scope of conditions in advertising strategies evolving as a result of the changes in the television industry. Affective economics entails product engagement (how the product is positioned either in a television series or event) customized to fit consumer desires and needs to create emotional connections between the product and the consumer in order to shape purchasing decisions. Note: The following is the Glossary term (Jenkins p.319) for Affective Economics: A new discourse in marketing and brand research that emphasizes the emotional commitments consumers make in brands as a central motivation for their purchasing decisions. Through complex strategies, advertisements are now incorporated within television shows. Advertisers continue to come up with new ways to reach audiences, who are now more diverse, over a variety of networks. Advertisement, in this sense of convergence culture, is rapidly progressing. Affective Economics could also encompass strong partnerships where television programs can incorporate product placement within the activities of the television program which will in turn communicate to viewers and build a brand connection to those viewers. Examples of Affective Economics can be found in the 'case study' of the television series The Apprentice (Jenkins p. 69-73, section containing bold face type) where there have been multiple brand integration opportunities, including spots or challenges involving the NBC television network, Reebok (in which they paid $4 million up front for each product placement; sampling developmental toys from Mattel; T-Shirt promotions by contestants; linking the New York Mets and circuses (in order to market Crest Toothpaste); Social forums for community appreciativeness and awareness (when Friendster was available for viewers to voice their alliances with certain contestants and the producers can monitor and acquire various data about fans). Note: There are many others. The key to success with any of these advertising vehicles is to spread the word across multiple advertising streams. Affective economics is also a new method of marketing, quickly gaining its place within the media industry. Furthermore, it strives to understand the emotional aspect of consumer decision making purchasing decisions. Affective economics emerged as an attempt to allow consumer’s desires to participate in shaping television content. In addition, it is also invested in the audience’s quality of experience. However, companies struggle with the economic aspect of affective economics, because it is a challenge to satisfy the need of audiences and gain a valuable profit, especially in this modern time of convergence media. Audiences are not all found in one point at a given time anymore as new media allows for media consumption in a variety of platforms. Furthermore, the goal is to meet audiences as well as marketers and producers. With viewers everywhere now, there are less restrictions with media consumption as viewers no longer have to tune in and “make appointments” with their televisions. The goals of these new marketing strategies are to install these brands within the audiences, across the many platforms. They strive to familiarize the audiences with their brands in many ways. For instance, advertisers place the ads on across many forms of media such as reality shows, films, and sports. The aim is to make the audiences cherish their advertisements, in the same way as they cherish their favorite television shows. Why did it emerge? To meet what significant changes affecting TV? Affective Economics is a response to the challenges being met by television producers. As stated in Jenkins Convergence Culture on page 63 one of the new marketing strategies relating to the multiplatform generation is that “marketers must shape brand reputations not through individual transaction but through sum total of interactions with the customer.” Building a long-term relationship with a consumer is far more important than having consumers make single purchases. Affective Economics became of paramount importance to television broadcasters, both the major networks as well as the cable stations. The most significant challenge being that viewers now have multiple access points to viewing a television show. For example: You no longer have to be at home to view your favorite Television show. Between podcasts, downloading to your iPod, or cellphone, it became more and more difficult to maintain a set viewership at the appointed time of a show, in short appointment television no longer has the stronghold it once did over the general public. Using the Reinventing Television online article from Wired as an example, Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show’s embraces TV 2.0 technologies (blog links, BitTorrent downloads, and viral viewing are some of the methods the Daily Show uses to broadcast the program) which have garnered 1.4 million viewers a night over a six year period. This viewership was temporarily increased when Stewart was a guest on a controversial airing of Crossfire that had a total of 3 Million viewers, most of whom downloaded the episode from the internet. What are Zappers, Casuals, and Loyals & why do advertisers care about them? Zappers can be considered the people who quickly switch between channels, watching sneak peeks of a program rather than sitting down and committing to an entire television segment. They are not dedicated to any particular program; they surf and browse different channels until something catches their interest. They are probably the hardest group to advertise to since they are likely to change the channel during a commercial. Loyals on the other hand pick the shows that best suit them and completely dedicate themselves to those shows. They may even talk about these shows during their social time. They engage in long term commitments with their favorite shows. Casuals can land in between zappers and loyals. They watch particular shows as they come to mind. They may watch an entire show if it can consistently hold their attention, if it bores them, they may wander off. Casuals may easily drift off and begin conversations if television doesn’t provide their preference of entertainment. Lovemarks are a new, creative revolution. It is a marketing concept that is meant to replace the idea of brands. They create an emotional connection with the person. Jenkins marks casuals to "generally watch from start to finish but are more apt to wonder away if it starts to bore them." He points out that we would watch random shows that would effect our daily habits. Notwithstanding this arrangement, I cannot deny the fact that there have been exceptional cases in which I have exhibited zapper or loyalistic tendencies. In some ways this would all be legitimate, for as Jenkins observes, "No given viewer is exclusively a loyal, a casual, or a zapper; most watch television in different ways on different occasions" (Jenkins) People natuarally adapt to their behaviors according to situational circumstances, and television-viewing habits are no different. i would consider my self being a zapper because when I have possessed by boredom i would do nothing more productive than watch TV. Jenkins does argue that " no viewers is exclusiely a loyal, a casual or a zapper; most watch television in different ways on different occasions," (Jenkins) and with this i would agree. As i went deeper into Jenkins books, i would sped time being a loyal and then later i would be a zapper, and so on. When there is a grand finally of a popular show, i would find myself zapping for often and becoming more casual. Where are viewers? In today’s changing circumstances, convergence cultures viewers are spread across multiple platforms and advertisers can’t seem to find them all. As the article Where have the TV viewers gone? States, there was a major decrease of viewership when viewers had more selections for viewing their television programs without the need of a television. Moreover there has been a further decrease of viewership due to the additional three weeks of Daylight Savings Time where viewers now have more outdoor activity at their disposal. In addition to this, people that were once viewing their favorite shows on TV, are now watching reruns on Youtube, and T-Voing missed episodes. Examples of producers taking a proactive approach to marketing across multiple platforms, we will examine the strategies of the cable channel ESPN. Using the Wired article ESPN Thinks outside the box by Frank Rose, Since ESPN has the leading male ratings, ages 18 to 34, according to the Nielsen research. Moreover, because sports are often live events viewers will neither record the programs, speed through the commercials, and in general have a propensity to ritualistically watch their favorite sport from start to finish, even with commercial interruption (case in point, the Superbowl which also has the highest paying television commercial spots for the year). ESPN's goal is to have sports events playing on your desktop, wireless technologies (Blackberry, 3G, and WiMax, for example) and allow you to have your sports news and information on demand. "Content that lives on all media platforms" was the phrase said by Robert Iger (the current CEO of Disney) when the article was originally posted. Due to the various forms by which one can access their favorite program, ‘appointment television’ (scheduled broadcasting of a television program) is becoming obsolete as stated in the Associate Press internet article titled Where have the TV Viewers Gone by David Bauder. Quoting Bauder “...the idea that many people are now making their own television schedules. The industry isn’t fully equipped to keep track of them...” signifies that the industry is at a loss as to how to quantify its viewership due to the emerging technologies. ....more reruns, bad shows, more shows being recorded or downloaded or streamed.” Couple that with the earlier start of Daylight Savings Time, again coming from Bauder, and the inability of networks not being equipped to keep track of the emerging technologies and you are left with the lessening of viewership by 8.8 What are lovemarks? Jenkins Glossary (p. 328) Lovemarks: Term coined by Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide, to refer to companies that have induced such a strong emotional investment from consumers that they command “loyalty beyond all reason.” A prime example of products that have strong emotional connection would be the Barbie doll. Harley‑Davidson Motorcycles, on a more subtle level Gibson Guitars, the military, Craftsman Tools. Lovemarks are when you can create contact between the brand and the consumer continually thereby resulting in an emotional tie to a particular product. Lovemarks was named one of the ten best Ideas of the Decade by [http://www.adage.com/ Advertising Age] magazine. As our culture changes sponsors and the entertainment industry focuses on new approaches to connecting with their audiences. In an environment where consumers shift toward customization and personalization, these two entities are forced to form collaborations in their marketing strategies. Their solutions in today’s world are “Lovemarks.” According to Kevin Roberts “Lovemarks” are strategies used by companies that induce strong emotional investment from consumers, so strong that they command “loyalty beyond all reason.” http://adage.com/article/agency-news/kevin-roberts-lovemarks-valid/148831/ The Apprentice and American Idol exemplifies many tie-ins of marketing brands that are linked within a show. A brand will have challenges on the show, while at the same time engaging the viewer with the relationship of the product and the participants, thereby promoting their product without inundating the viewer with commercials. article-1349936-0CD5D563000005DC-313_468x286.jpg|American Idol Judges with their Coke cups. image.axd.jpg|Original three judges of American Idol. product-placement-am-idol-coke.jpg|American Idol contestants in the Coke room. For example: In one of the episodes of The Apprentice contestants had to come up with a new Snapple flavor and advertise it. After this episode, many fans of the new Snapple flavor went on show’s forums and requested help finding it. This second-hand advertising is effective since it is not just a plain advertisement. Viewers root for their favorite characters in the hopes that their flavor will win. Another example is the use of Coca Cola in American Idol. The Coke brand is everywhere when watching an episode. You see the judges drinking Coke and their cups prominently in front of them. Also after contestants sing they are interviewed in a room plastered with the Coca Cola logo. After a full episode of sitting on the edge of their seats, these viewers may go out and try the new products. Furthermore, these links are cared for because they may help us identify our favorite characters, as well as gain a better understanding of them. This can be used to promote, exploit, or simply help develop a character or contestant. New adverstising strategies for american idol and other reality shows: *The idea of brand community - It will carry out important functions on behalf of the brand, such as sharing information, perpetuating the history and culture of the brand, and providing assistance to other user. This idea provide social structure to the relationship between marketers and consumer. *Jenkins describes, “brand communities move online, they are able to sustain these social connections over long periods and thus to intensify the role the community plays in their purchasing decisions; they expand the number of potential consumers who interact with the community and help to move casual consumers into a more intense engagement with the product.” *ESPN is another example of a brand community by way of cross advertisement. Blake Griffin is a prime example of cross advertisement when he chose to dunk a basketball over a Kia in the dunk contest. While Blake was representing the N.B.A. as well as marketing his talents on ESPN, he also endorsed Kia by dunking over their car, ultimately winning the dunk contest and the footage was turned into a commercial. *Another example is playing video games, such as, Madden Football and those who are huge fans of this game would stay connected with news feed while being online. “Electronic Arts sports” integrated this technology to advance purchaser’s decision by going out and buy EA sports game to engage into their products. Majority of the video games sold today comes standard with internet connection, by doing so it makes it much easier to reach a very large target market which is desighned to pin point the needs of the people in that specific audeince. What better place to sell sport related items then on a video game itself? *Another example of cross advertisement are the the Kodak camera commercials that feature popular music artists like Drake, Rihanna, Pitbull, and Trey Songz. Each of the artists have their own commercial where they are using the camera to take pictures of themselves, wherever they are, and send them to one another. The commercial also advertises Facebook because in every commercial, after sending the pictures to one another, they send them to Facebook.